APA Sets Salary Cuts and Furloughs in Wake of Covid-19 Pandemic

Following in the steps of several agencies dealing with the coronavirus, APA has informed all offices of upcoming salary cuts along with possible suspensions and furloughs for employees due to the pandemic’s economic effect on the industry.

APA board of directors will make the largest financial sacrifice.

The move has been made to avoid layoffs similar to the ones made by UTA and Verve, which made similar decisions following Paradigm’s drastic decision to temporarily lay off more than 100 employees.

It is unknown how many employees could be part of the furloughs, though sources say employees with salaries under $100,000 will not have their salary cut.

The following memo was sent to employees across the company:

Dear Colleagues,

With the U.S. now the epicenter of the global pandemic, more than a quarter of the world’s population on lockdown, record unemployment, a public health crisis more dire than ever known in our agency’s 58 year history, and a financial impact worse than 9/11 and the Housing Crisis combined, APA like so many other companies across our industry and the world must take immediate and thoughtful action to ensure our company will traverse these unchartered waters and emerge as strong as possible.

To combat these unprecedented times, we are taking the necessary cost-cutting measures companywide to protect our business with minimal impact on our most vulnerable employees. While we have never in the history of this agency had a more difficult challenge to overcome, APA’s senior management team is 100% focused on overcoming the common hurdles we are all now facing. With courage and compassion, we will all get through this together.

As every aspect of our lives is being affected across the globe, we are constantly mindful of protecting our personal health and safeguarding our families. Our hearts go out to our colleagues in New York, now at the epicenter of this public health crisis in the U.S., as well as those in other APA offices across the country that now find themselves in hotspot zones. Our doors may be closed but our hearts and minds remain open. We know these circumstances are extremely difficult for everyone, but as we all continue to battle against this virus, APA remains steadfast and vigilant in our commitment to do everything we can to win for our colleagues, clients and communities who are always top of mind.

Deadline Hollywood first reported the news.